The present invention relates to a new variety of Senecio plant, which originated from the crossing of the cultivar ‘Extra Rose White’ as the female parent with a variety of Senecio heritieri as the male parent.
There are many varieties of Senecio L. and Senecio cruentus cultivated in the world. Many cultivated Senecio varieties have capitula of a single color of white, pink red, blue or violet, while others have marginal variegation with off color parts.
The female parent ‘Extra Rose White’ (unpatented) is a cultivar of Senecio cruentus. It is an early flowering variety having dwarf and mounding shape with large leaves. It has small single capitula, the ray florets having vivid purplish red with white center coloration. The seed of ‘Extra Rose White’ is commercially available.
The male parent Senecio heritieri is a cultivar having a high and dome-shaped growth habit with abundant branching and small leaves. It has small single capitula, the ray florets having strong purple with vague white center coloration. Senecio heritieri was introduced from nurseries in England, and, to Applicant's knowledge has no variety name, and is neither patented nor sold in the United States.
In January 1996, ‘Extra Rose White’ as the female parent was crossed with Senecio heritieri as the male parent, in Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. The seedlings obtained from that crossing were grown in pots in glasshouses and evaluated in July 1996. One seedling was selected in December 1996, in view of its growth habit, flower color and flowering time. That seedling was propagated by cutting and trialed in pots starting in July 1999, at Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunsenereba’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,122) and ‘Rouge Chigasaki’ (unpatented) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Senecio plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. The new variety of Senecio plant was named ‘Sunsenebapiba’.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with the Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S.).